(Update: Namecheap has restored the function of the e-Trademarks listserv. It took 56 hours and 24 emails back and forth, but yes the function of the listserv has been restored.)
Hello folks. The e-Trademarks listserv has been broken for about 36 hours now. What triggered this was that on May 1, 2024 the listserv system did what it always does on the first day of every month — it sends out monthly membership reminders. In the case of the e-Trademarks listserv this was about 1227 email messages with nearly identical subject lines and very similar email body texts. Our hosting service provider (Namecheap) then compared this number (1227) with the stated limit (for our type of hosting) which is ten thousand email messages per hour, and somehow wrongly concluded that we sent so many emails that it supposedly violated the stated limit. And Namecheap imposed a shutdown on the e-Trademarks listserv.
Yes, I know, if a person carries out complicated math, a person can eventually arrive at a conclusion that the number 1227 is actually smaller than 10000 and not larger than 10000. And I have tried to explain this to the “legal and abuse” department at Namecheap and I have thus far apparently failed to make myself clear to them on this seemingly subtle point.
This is not the first time that Namecheap has wrongly tagged our listserv traffic as supposedly being spam. Yes, what happens often is that hundreds or a thousand emails get sent at the same time, with identical subject lines. But that is exactly what a listserv is supposed to do! If the listserv were to fail to send hundreds or a thousand emails get sent at the same time, with identical subject lines, that would mean the listserv is failing at its stated function. I have gone through this bad movie with Namecheap several times, including the following:
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- May 1, 2024, case number PRB-650-91372
- February 21, 2024, case number JET-420-91825
- November 6, 2023, case number LZW-313-84957
- January 9, 2023, case number KHX-716-74404
In the previous three cases, what eventually happened was Namecheap realizing that they were wrong to shut down the listserv and then they corrected their mistake. Now we have this most recent case and again I guess it will be a matter of time before Namecheap corrects its mistake.
Okay, I have vented. Thank you, readers, for listening.
Some time, hopefully soon, the Namecheap people will follow along with my explanation that 1227 is smaller than 10000 instead of larger. And they will restore the e-trademarks listserv to service.
Don’t feel too bad – it could be worse. Cohen Seglias handles government contracting for clients with the .mil email extension. It has had to sue various cyber agencies of the Department of Defense to get its domain unblocked by the government so that it can receive emails from its own government clients and the appeals board that hears gov’t contract disputes. And its request for an emergency TRO was denied. LOL! See Case 2:24-cv-01619-JMY filed on 4-18-24 in EDPA. Funniest set of facts in a complaint I’ve read in a long time.
Carl:
I just spoke to my contact at Namecheap. He had escalated the issue to (1) fix it, and (2) make sure it doesn’t happen again.
Best wishes
Thilo
Thank you. Just now I heard from my nameless contact at “legal and abuse” at Namecheap who says they have restored the function of the e-trademarks listserv and supposedly taken steps to try to avoid needlessly shutting it down the next time their system overreacts to normal listserv behavior. It surely sounds like your having reached out to your contact may have made a big difference. Again, thank you Thilo.
Carl